"It’s the perfect path for me"

On November 16th 2019, Hubert Wędzonka’s team travelled to Kielce to face the current national champions in their age category. The clash with Korona with the 15th league game of the season. Lech lost 1:2 and it was the last official game for Bąkowski before the winter break. It’s been over 110 days before the young keeper reappeared in the goal in the match against Górnik Zabrze on March 8^th. After that, the pandemic stopped the next league games from taking place and eventually resulted in the cancellation of the Central Junior League season.

Therefore, the youth team is now bound to weekday training sessions and hard work in the hope that they get a chance to debut in the reserves teams. Although the 17-year-old’s situation doesn’t seem overly optimistic since young players need minutes, it’s a problem that a lot of footballers at this age have to tackle.

- To bardzo ciężki moment dla wszystkich chłopaków, którzy nie mają teraz gdzie występować. Moim celem na tę rundę był debiut w rezerwach, w drugiej lidze spodziewam się kompletnie innego grania, niż na poziomie juniorskim. Do tego mogę cały czas dążyć, czuję, że dobrze przepracowałem okres w czasie kwarantanny. Pozostaje mi to kontynuować i zachować cierpliwość - twierdzi bramkarz.

In 2020, the goalkeeper has already managed to win a prestigious international tournament La Manga Cup with his national teammates. The squad led by Dorna has been performing really well over the past few months and even got to the final of Mermaid’s Cup. In spring, the youth national team was supposed to compete in the qualifiers for European Championships, however, COVID-19 messed up the plans. “I felt like a strong element of this team which was in a great disposition and displayed a big potential but due to the cancellation of Euro qualifiers, we were left hanging. Still, health comes first and whenever we can get back on the pitch, we will continue fighting. I am hoping that together with my teammates, we will manage to achieve great things in the U-19 national team,” highlighted the young keeper who got 15 league caps in total this season.

Bąkowski has been a member of the senior squad since February 2019. He was officially promoted following the winter training camp in Belek. So far, he hasn’t had the chance to debut and make his dream come true, but the goalkeeper emphasised that the right time will come. “I believe it’s the perfect path for me. Any goalkeeper needs to gain experience playing among seniors in the lower divisions before even thinking about playing at Bułgarska street. You can’t accomplish everything at once,” spoke Bąkowski.

Even though the keeper will be deprived of chances to play for points over the next few weeks, he doesn’t have many reasons to worry. The goalkeeper position is a sensitive one, therefore, the is no surprise that none of his age peers has managed to debut in the higher tiers of Polish football yet. Hence, he still has a chance to be the first one to debut in the reserves team. “For all of us who are new to senior football, playing in the reserves is the best thing possible. A lot of footballers have agreed that the difference between the first and third divisions isn’t as big and between the lower leagues. I always keep my fingers crossed for my older teammates and I’m hoping that I’ll be given a chance to play alongside them soon,” said the 17-year-old with enthusiasm.

Bąkowski emphasised that for now, his only goal is to keep improving whilst training along with the first-team goalkeepers, all of whom are eager to help the youngster. “They always support me, give me tips, point out important things, and that’s priceless. This is the kind of relationship that all goalkeepers playing at the same club should have. For me, as the youngest member of the squad, their support means so much. Each one of them is a role model for me and I can learn a lot from them which only further proves that I am in the right place at the right time,” summarised the goalkeeper.